Cancer Vaccine Breaking News

The World Health Organization (WHO) today announced its vaccine recommendations for the 2024 influenza season in the southern hemisphere.

For countries in tropical and subtropical regions, the WHO recommendations for influenza vaccine composition (NH or SH) are available on the WHO Global Influenza Programme website as of September 29, 2023.

The WHO also recommended removing the influenza B/Yamagata/16/88 lineage component, which has not been detected since early 2020.

While influenza vaccines are safe and effective, manufacturing and using inactivated and live attenuated vaccines containing B/Yamagata lineage viruses pose a theoretical risk of reintroducing the B/Yamagata lineage virus into the population.

This risk can be mitigated by removing B/Yamagata lineage viruses from the vaccines.

Therefore, the WHO Influenza Vaccine Composition Advisory Committee believes that including a B/Yamagata antigen as a component of influenza vaccines is no longer warranted, and every effort should be made to exclude it as soon as possible, wrote the WHO.

Furthermore, when the WHO recommends viruses for inclusion in influenza vaccines twice each year, it is up to national or regional authorities to approve the composition and formulation of vaccines used in each country.

These new WHO recommendations do not impact the 2023-2024 flu shots currently offered in the United States.

As of September 16, 2023, 83.59 million influenza vaccine doses had been distributed in the U.S. Annual flu shots, which the U.S. CDC recommends for most people, are readily available at most pharmacies in the U.S.

To better address the evolving risk of type 2 circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus (cVDPV2), the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) and partners have deployed the novel oral polio vaccine type 2 (nOPV2) to millions of people.

The nOPV2 vaccine has shown to be more genetically stable than older polio vaccines and less likely to be associated with the emergence of cVDPV2 in low immunity settings.

This means that nOPV2 has the potential to be a significant tool to help stop polio outbreaks, says the GPEI.

There have been over 30 countries reporting polio/poliovirus outbreaks in 2023.

The U.S. CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices presentation on October 19, 2022, confirmed that nOPV2 is more genetically stable and less likely to be associated with the emergence of cVDPV2 and can provide mucosal immunity to limit the virus's spreading among Inactivated polio vaccine (IPV)-vaccinated people. 

According to the GPEI on September 27, 2023, nOPV2 has been deployed under the WHO's Emergency Use Listing procedure.

Approximately 750 million doses of nOPV2 have been administered across 35 countries. An additional 15 countries have met the requirements for nOPV2 use in the event of a poliovirus outbreak. 

As of September 29, 2023, the United States has not approved the nOPV2 vaccine.

The CDC currently recommends that all children get vaccinated to protect against polio or poliomyelitis as part of the childhood vaccines.

The IPV is the only polio vaccine that has been given in the United States since 2000.

The New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services, Division of Public Health Services (DPHS) recently announced that the risk for both mosquito- and tick-transmitted infections remains high and urged everyone to prevent bites.

This is essential advice since no preventive vaccines or anti-virus medications target Jamestown Canyon Virus (JCV) or Powassan Virus (POWV) diseases. 

During the summer of 2023, fourteen batches of mosquitos around the state tested positive for JCV.

On September 25, 2023, DPHS confirmed a human JCV infection in an adult from Hillsborough County.

New Hampshire has reported a total of 13 human cases of JCV since 2018.

People infected with JCV can develop more serious central nervous system diseases, including meningitis or encephalitis.

About half of patients reported with JCV disease are hospitalized.

The good news is deaths associated with JCV infection are rare, according to the U.S. CDC.

Other infections transmitted by mosquitos in New Hampshire include Eastern Equine Encephalitis and West Nile Virus, which also present with symptoms similar to JCV.

The CDC has reported four states have confirmed JVC cases this year.

In addition, DPHS reported two cases of POWV in September, one in an adult in Rockingham County and another in a child from Carroll County.

New Hampshire has identified 8 cases of POWV since 2013, when the disease was first detected in humans.

During 2023, nine states have reported POWV cases.

Approximately half of the people who survive severe disease have long-term health problems such as recurring headaches, loss of muscle mass and strength, and memory problems.

And about 10% of people with severe POWV disease die.

“Mosquitoes will be with us until the first hard frost, and ticks remain active as long as there is no snow cover and temperatures remain above freezing,” commented Ryan Tannian, Chief of the DPHS Bureau of Infectious Disease Control, in a press release.

“Preventing the bites that cause illnesses transmitted by mosquitoes and ticks is a key factor in reducing the risk for illness.”

For national data on JCV and POWV, visit https://www.cdc.gov/jamestown-canyon/statistics/current-season-data.html  and  https://www.cdc.gov/powassan/statistics-data/current-season-data.html. 

Gritstone bio, Inc. today announced that it was awarded a contract by the U.S. Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) to conduct a Phase 2b comparative study evaluating Gritstone's self-amplifying mRNA (samRNA) CORAL vaccine candidate containing Spike plus other viral targets to protect against COVID-19.

Gritstone's approach seeks to generate a therapeutic immune response by leveraging insights into the immune system's ability to recognize and destroy diseased cells by targeting select antigens. 

The agreement, valued at up to $433 million, was awarded as part of 'Project NextGen,' an initiative by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

Under the HHS contract, Gritstone will conduct a 10,000-participant, randomized Phase 2b double-blinded study in the United States in collaboration with the COVID-19 Prevention Network.

Andrew Allen, M.D., Ph.D., Co-founder, President, and Chief Executive Officer of Gritstone bio, commented in a press release on September 27, 2023, "First-generation COVID-19 vaccines provided great utility during the height of the pandemic but are limited in breadth and durability of clinical protection."

"CORAL was designed to address these limitations by inducing durable neutralizing antibody and T cell-based immunity against current and future SARS-CoV-2 (betacoronavirus) variants."

"We are excited about this opportunity to work alongside BARDA and look forward to initiating the Phase 2b study (CORAL-BARDA) in the first quarter of 2024."

An introduction video is posted at this Gritstone About Us link.

This project has been funded with Federal funds from the Department of HHS, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response; Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, under Contract No. 75A50123C00062.

In August 2023, HHS awarded more than $1.4 billion for Project NextGen through the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response.

The Minnesota Health Department today confirmed that Beyfortus™ (Nirsevimab) is available to order via the Minnesota Vaccine for Children (MnVFC).

Beyfortus is the first U.S. FDA-approved extended half-life monoclonal antibody offering passive immunization to infants to prevent lower respiratory tract infections caused by the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).

Even though Beyfortus is not a vaccine, the VFC program voted to include it in the VFC available vaccines to help ensure that all MnVFC-eligible children can access it at no cost.

Many Minnesota hospital pharmacies are enrolled in the MnVFC program because they manage vaccines for their co-located clinics.

These hospitals can provide inpatient Beyfortus as part of this program. Still, they may need to adjust their practices to include monitoring inpatient unit refrigerator temperatures and documenting MnVFC eligibility in their records.

Nationwide, Beyfortus is part of the U.S. Vaccines For Children program and will be available for the 23-24 RSV season.

The U.S. CDC says administration will start in early October 2023.

Note that babies born between April and September will receive doses early in fall 2023, in addition to babies born during the RSV season, which runs into 2024.

The September KFF COVID-19 Vaccine Monitor recently asked the public about their intention to get an influenza vaccine, new respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccines, and the updated COVID-19 vaccine during the 2023-2024 respiratory season.

A “tripledemic” scenario in which all three viruses peak together could impact millions of people simultaneously.

According to the KFF poll announced on September 27, 2023, most adults (58%), including three-quarters of adults 65 and older, say they will get a flu shot this year.

And about half of adults say they either will “definitely get” (23%) or “probably get” (23%) the new vaccine for COVID-19 that was approved on September 12.

In addition, 58% of adults 60 and older say they will either “definitely get” or “probably get” the new RSV vaccine recommended for their age group.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently recommended that most people get vaccinated this year.

From a trust perspective, this poll offered good news for healthcare providers.

Healthcare providers were ranked as the most trusted sources of information about vaccines again, as most adults (68%) say they usually keep up-to-date with the vaccines their provider recommends.

Unfortunately, government sources of vaccine information like the CDC, local public health departments, and the U.S. FDA fare much lower.

The complete KFF poll results are linked here.

This article's headline was updated on Sept. 28, 2023.

A novel rabies vaccine candidate designed to produce a more robust immune response in an accelerated timespan compared to existing rabies vaccines today announced it has progressed to late-stage clinical research.

YS Biopharma Co., Ltd. confirmed on September 26, 2023, that it has enrolled the first subject in its Phase 3 clinical trial of the PIKA Rabies Vaccine candidate.

The trial will assess the safety, immunogenicity, and lot-to-lot consistency of the PIKA Rabies Vaccine and is expected to include an estimated 4,500 subjects.

Dr. Muhammad Ahmad, the Principal Investigator at Central Park Teaching Hospital in Lahore, Pakistan, where the first subject has been enrolled, commented in a press release, "This marks an important step forward in our collective efforts to develop a novel and powerful vaccine which leverages recent immunological advancements."

"We are optimistic that these results will help shape the future of vaccine interventions and aid in treating a pressing global public health issue."

This experimental vaccine may add clinical value to the currently approved rabies vaccines as sporadic breakthrough infections (i.e., rabies cases in people vaccinated) have been reported, according to The Lancet Infectious Disease in December 2022.

Rabies is a viral disease characterized by an almost 100% mortality rate upon the onset of clinical symptoms.

The virus is responsible for approximately 59,000 human fatalities annually in over 150 countries, primarily in Asia and Africa. 

In the U.S., bites from bats, not dogs, are the leading source of rabies infections.

The U.S. CDC says before visiting high-risk rabies destinations, discuss vaccination options with a healthcare provider.